Timetable of Death

A young girl has discovered a body in a grave.  In and of itself, it shouldn't be extraordinary, but this is a newly dug grave and the person it is intended for isn't the one in it!  Detective Robert Colbeck and his sergeant Victor Leeming immediately take the train to Derby to investigate.  They have been called out by a man who was a candidate for chairmanship of the Midland Railway, as was the victim.  Both Colbeck and Leeming are suspicious of his motives.

A name in a reward broadsheet creates suspicion for Colbeck and when he speaks to the son of the victim, his suspicions are aroused even further.   Leeming stays in Spondon, the little town where the victim was found, to get a sense of the community and hopefully find things out while Colbeck takes his investigation further afield.  Colbeck also learns that the family of the victim has issues.

Colbeck sends Leeming back to London to report to Superintendent Tallis and to investigate the family's black sheep there.  What he learns with the help of Colbeck's wife is a revelation.  Once together again, the pair of detectives begin to slowly piece together the mystery.  It is only a chance accident that puts Colbeck on the right track.

Edward Marston's murder mystery is well written and concludes with a surprise ending despite the author throwing up numerous potential suspects.  A good read.

Five Ways to Kill a Man

DCI Colin Ray has his hands full; a well-known financier and his wife have died in a fire, which appears to be a case of arson while at the same time his wife Grace is in a hospice on the verge of dying.  Ray is trying to hold it all together.  The result is that his DI, Rhoda Martin has requested Acting Detective Superintendent William Lorimer to review the now retired DCI's handling of the case.

At the same time, Maggie Lorimer's mother suffers a stroke.  Lorimer is surprised when he is told by Ray that his Chief Constable had told not to look too deeply into the couple who had died in the fire.

A few days into the review, DI Martin is called out to what a woman calls a mugging of her neighbour.  The son of the victim shows Martin her diary in which she has written about a cyclist who appears to possibly be stalking her.  DC Kate Clark is sure it is murder because it matched a similar case from earlier, Martin isn't ready to accept the coincidence.  When a third death occurs in suspicious circumstances coincidence can no longer be accepted.  A serial killer is on the loose.

Lorimer asks his psychologist friend, Solomon Brightman, to take a look at the case.  At first Solomon had thought a woman could be the killer, but he revises his idea after seeing the crime scenes.  He also feels that the killer could strike again.  Can Lorimer and his team catch the killer before he or she strikes again?

Author Alex Gray really builds up the tension in this murder mystery.  The reader has at least three killers in mind throughout the book, but which one is it?  Only in the final pages do you come to realise it.  An excellent read.

Eagles at War

It is 9 A. D.; Arminius has become a part of the Roman cavalry posted to the German frontier.   His loyalty has resulted in him gaining citizenship and having been raised to the equestrian level.  However, at the same time, he was still a proud German.  With that in mind, he begins plotting an uprising against the Romans.

Meanwhile a young new tribune, Tubero, has arrived from Rome.  He is eager for action in an area that is peaceful.  He attacks some farmers who are moving cattle from one pasture to another, assuming that they are rustlers.  Can his centurion, Tullus manage to keep the peace after this blunder by his senior officer?  Governor Varus is left to deal with the fallout.

Given the opportunity to get to know Arminius, Tullus appreciates the warrior that he is, but doesn't trust him.  A surprise raid by one of the tribes on the Romans causes Varus to order retribution.  Will this raid destroy Arminius' plans?  Fortunately not; now he just needs to get more tribes allied with his cause.

Later in the summer, Tullus' suspicions are furthered when one of his slaves reports of overhearing plans for an ambush on the Romans by the tribes.  However, that isn't enough evidence to present to Varus.

As the legions begin their march back to the winter camp, Arminius puts his plan into motion.  As the legions entered the forest, following a suggestion by Arminius, the rains came, bogging down the army.  The legions are unprepared when the ambush strikes.  The Germans are relentless in their attacks and the legions are diminishing in numbers and becoming demoralised as the days pass.

Arminius' victory would be complete.  Virtually all of Varus' three legions would be annihilated.  Author Ben Kane's historical novel is based on a real event.  Both Varus and Arminius were real men, and the Battle of Teutoburg Forest would result in Rome staying south of the Rhine.  The loss of three legions was a tough blow to Rome.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and I look forward to reading more of Kane's work.

A Rustle of Silk

Gabriel Taverner has recently purchased a country house in which he has set himself up as a doctor.  However, someone in the area doesn't like him doing so, and has been leaving gruesome gifts on his doorstep.  He is sure that it is some other doctor who is afraid that Gabriel will steal his patients.

Not long after settling in, he is asked by the local coroner, Theo Davey, to examine a body.  He is sure that the dead man committed suicide.  Theo sets about trying to determine who the dead man is.  His identity will be hard to prove as he has been dead several days and rats and maggots have attacked his face.  It takes awhile, but soon Theo has his answer.  The dead man was married to Gabriel's sister Celia.

Vicar Jonathan Carew informs Gabriel that because his brother-in-law was a suicide, he could not be buried in hallowed ground.  This further depresses Gabriel's sister who was devastated by her husband's death.  Gabriel wonders if he can prove that the death was not a suicide.  Looking at the body, both Gabriel and Theo realise that it couldn't have been a suicide because his arms wouldn't have been long enough to self administer the sword into himself.  He had been placed in a pose of suicide!

Gabriel begins his investigation with the help of Theo and Jonathan.  Shortly afterwards he is attacked near his home.  Is this because of his investigation or related to the previous incidents?  Much to the consternation of Theo and Gabriel, their prime suspect is brutally murdered.  Why and by whom?

Gabriel also learns that his brother-in-law and the second victim were involved in extortion.  In addition his brother-in-law had been beating his sister.  How can Gabriel prove that Celia wasn't responsible for his death?

Author Alys Clare leaves the above puzzle to be solved just before the final pages of this murder mystery.  Two murders with different results.  All-in-all a good read.

The Price of Murder

The body of a young girl has been found floating in the Thames.  Dr. Donnelly determines that she has been raped repeatedly over a long period of time.  Magistrate Sir John Fielding is outraged.  A neighbour woman identifies the child and states that the mother had sold her to a rich man.  Shortly after this, Jeremy Proctor, protege of Fielding, begins his investigation and meets the uncle of the victim.  They begin to work together.

Although admonished by Fielding not to let the uncle direct the investigation, Jeremy finds himself letting just that occur.  It is at this time that a friend of Jeremy's soon to be fiancé, Clarissa, goes missing.  It appears that she may have gone off with a pair of scoundrels in Covent Garden.

Assured that the mother of the little girl who had been killed, would be in Newmarket for the King's Plate, Jeremy and Constable Patley head there in hopes of finding her.  Having found her, she just as quickly slips their grasp and heads back to London.  Patley and Jeremy follow, but only after picking up their race winnings.  Back in London Jeremy finds out that the missing girl has returned, but is much the worse for wear.  He and Fielding hurry to quiz her about her ordeal.  Fielding doesn't trust her story, nor that of the person who the girl accuses of victimising her.

Author Bruce Alexander ensures that justice is served before the end of this murder mystery.  He also tosses in a real surprise at the end.  As usual, a very good read from this author.

Dead Water

Rhona Laing, Fiscal for the Shetlands has discovered the body of a man in a boat.  Since DI Jimmy Perez is still on sick leave following the death of his fiancé, Sandy Wilson is put in charge.  He contacts the mainland and they send a woman DI to look after the investigation.  Sandy immediately recognises the victim.  He is a former journalist who made good down south.  Why would anyone want to kill him?

DI Willow Reeves arrives the following morning to take over the investigation.  Surprisingly Perez finds stirrings of curiosity and begins to ask questions on his own.  Yet at the same time, Perez feels conflicted about being involved in the investigation.  Too many painful memories from the death of his fiancé insert themselves into his mind.  Reeves is unsure about the Fiscal, feeling that she is holding something back.

Sandy determines that the journalist was looking into both the natural resources and renewable resources in the area.  The journalist had been invited to a meeting of a group opposed to a tidal power generator, but he never showed up.  A few days later Reeves discovers a body by the side of the road.  The dead man was supposed to marry in a few days the former lover of the first victim.  Coincidence?

Perez suggests that the two deaths might be related to blackmail.  Was the first victim blackmailing someone and the second victim learned about it?  When the girlfriend of the first victim shows up, a new spin is put on the investigation.  Sandy begins to feel that Perez is back to being his old self.   However, as Perez gets more involved in the investigation, DI Reeves begins to resent him.  Will their conflict prevent them from solving the case?

Author Ann Cleeves has created another page turner of a mystery.  Well written, leaving the reader a surprise at the end.  A good read.

Among the Mad

It is Christmas Eve, 1931 and while walking on a street in London, Maisie Dobbs is witness to a man committing suicide using a hand grenade.  Concussed by the explosion, Maisie takes the train down to visit her father in Chelstone.  However on Boxing Day DI Jack Stratton comes down to pick her up.  A threatening letter has been received in which the writer uses her name.  She finds herself helping the Special Branch in the investigation.

The following day six dogs in a kennel are found dead with symptoms that point to them having been poisoned with chlorine gas.  Is this what is being threatened upon a wider group of humans?  Which group is behind the letter?  The IRA, the unions a radical women's group or maybe Mosley's New Party?  Special Branch arrests a group, but Maisie is sure that they are not responsible.  Not long after that another deadly attack occurs.  This time a junior minister is killed with some new substance.  How far will the escalation go?

Feeling that a foundling hospital might be where the person threatening London might be from, Maisie checks the records there to no avail.  However, the senior doctor there remembers someone who she might be looking for, but unfortunately he was killed in the war.  Maisie has some doubts.  As she gains more information things fall into place, but can she stop the killer before he commits a wholesale massacre?

Although author Jacqueline Winspear has her heroine, Maisie Dobbs solve the mystery in a timely manner, Winspear keeps one tiny piece of the puzzle back and then surprises the reader with a more complex picture than the reader was anticipating.  All-in-all, a good read.

Fire in the East

Marcus Clodius Ballista is on his way to Mesopotamia to rebuild a Roman army there to protect Rome's eastern flank.  As Dix Ripae, Ballista would have the full powers of a governor except when the governor was present.   The trip on the Mediterranean in the autumn isn't without its perils.  Along the way he purchases a Persian slave who tells him that the war Ballista is about to take on is a religious war.

Arriving in Antioch, Ballista sees the evidence of the damage done by the Persians when they had taken the city.  On the way to Arete, they are joined by a group of mercenaries.  Ballista, at first is hesitant, but is impressed by their leader Iarhai.  In Palmyra, Ballista's request for troops is refused.  Is it because they fear the Persians more than Rome?

Seeing Arete on the banks of the Euphrates for the first time, Ballista has mixed feelings about its potential as a defensive base.  His bodyguard, Maximus, points out the problems with Ballista's new palace.  Ballista soon discovers that the place is undermanned and that the tribune and centurion had been robbing the empire.  The tribune has disappeared.  Rather than punish the centurion, Turpio, Ballista places him in charge of the cohort.

Ballista sets about improving the defences of Arete and ensuring that supplies would enable them to withstand a long siege.  However, shortly after this, an arsonist sets fire to the arsenal.  Although it is destroyed, some of the material is saved.  Ballista sets to building a larger one, and ensuring that it will be better protected.  In order for that to happen people are going have to give up their homes.

Early in the spring, Ballista is ambushed while out checking on a nearby fort.  Fortunate to escape, the realisation comes that they have a traitor in their midst.  Not long after that, the Persian army arrives to lay siege to Arete.  The defenders are vastly outnumbered; can they withstand any attacks?

Author Harry Sidebottom's historical novel is an exciting read and brings to light an era that is not well known.  I'm looking forward to reading the sequels.

Glasgow Kiss

DCI Lorimer and DC Annie Irvine have been called out to search for a missing child. The young girl was snatched right off the street .

Meantime at the school in which Maggie Lorimer teaches, one of the students has accused the religious teacher of sexually assaulting her during the summer.  Maggie had seen an altercation between the girl and teacher the day before.  Could what she had said really be true?

Two days later DCI Lorimer is called out to a park where the body of a girl has been found.  It turns out to be a teenager; she who had accused her teacher.  Could her killer have been the teacher or the boy she was seen arguing with on CCTV?  The following day a skeleton of a girl is found in the same area, and it appears that she was killed in the same manner. But it isn't long before more bodies are found in the same area, all killed in the same manner.

Will Lorimer and his team be able to apprehend the killer before he kills again?  And what if the missing child.  Is she lying dead somewhere because the team has been forced to focus on the deaths of the young women?

Author Alex Gray's murder mystery is hard to put down.  It plays on the mind of a parent, although I am sure that the reader of murder mysteries will thoroughly enjoy it.

A Case of Doubtful Death

Frances Doughty's later case involves a missing man.  An orderly at a mortuary, the young man had gone missing the night of his employer's death.  Had some misfortune occurred or had he been waylaid on his way home?

A letter sent to the deceased from Germany may have some possible connection to the case, but how will Frances find that out?  And who is the mysterious Dr. Darscot?  It turns out that he is actually a mister and had lent the dead man some money.  Later, it appears to Frances that the victim had been embezzling funds from the mortuary.

Although Frances was not having any success locating the missing man, her notoriety was having the added benefit of bringing her more cases.  As her investigation continues, she becomes sure that the dead man was being blackmailed.  Then she is of the opinion that the dead man really isn't dead, rather that another man is inside the coffin, maybe the man who is missing.  She requests to see the body.  They proceed to The vault at Kensel Green Cemetery.

There seems to be more mysterious activities going on at the mortuary than Frances had originally thought.  Who is really behind all of it and why?

Author Linda Stratmann has weaved a tale that is most confusing yet intriguing.  A good read.